Toyota powers ahead in World Endurance Championship

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

PHOTO: Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Toyota Hybrid Racing at the 2013 World Endurance Championship, 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

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By Graeme Fletcher, Postmedia News

Originally published: September 26, 2013

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Austin, Texas — Friday Sept. 27 was a rare day in Austin: It rained so hard and for so long that the streets of the music capital of North America were awash. This put a crimp in the practice sessions for the competitors running in the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas. The rain turned what is a very fast 5.515-kilometre race track into a very watery skid pad with the cars kicking up monster rooster tails. The good news was the weather cleared and the race ran under a cloudless blue sky. The sun also shined on Anthony Davidson, one of Toyota’s drivers, as he became a father for a second time following the birth of his daughter shortly before the race commenced.

The beauty of the World Endurance Championship is that, unlike Formula One, there’s little pomp and circumstance, which makes the race series so much more accessible — during the pit walk, the drivers were out signing autographs and posing for photos with fans. Try that one at a Formula One race —some quip that F1 is the world’s fastest parade of prima donnas.

The big leagues are represented by the LMP1, or Prototype, cars. At this point, it boils down to two main competitors — Audi, which runs a V6 turbodiesel hybrid, and Toyota. The powertrain buried beneath the Toyota TS030’s carbon-fibre monocoque is remarkably similar to the system that powers the comany’s road-going hybrids. The difference is found in the power. The TS030 hybrid is cranked up to deliver the power required to produce a winning lap time — the fastest LMP1 car completed a lap of The Circuit of The Americas in 1 minute 47 seconds, which is just eight seconds shy of the lap record set by a Formula One car.

Toyota’s racing hybrid is powered by a 3.4-litre V8 gasoline-powered engine that’s mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox with an electric motor sandwiched between the two. The gasoline side produces 530 horsepower, while the electric motor makes 300 hp. The combination not only delivers some much-needed punch out of a corner and down the straightaways, it also helps overall fuel efficiency — the car only carries 73 litres of gasoline, which is enough to run for about an hour.

Where the race car differs from Toyota’s regular hybrid is the how the electric power is stored. The racer uses a large bank of super-capacitors to store the electrical energy harvested during regenerative braking. The reason for using capacitors is two-fold. First, they capture and discharge the energy with the speed required of a race car. More importantly, the bank of capacitors weighs considerably less than an equivalent battery, and weight hurts performance. The cars must weigh a minimum of 900 kilograms — anything over that is a complete waste because the excess must be carted around the track for the entire six hours.

When the TS030 goes into its regenerative braking mode, the electric motor produces the maximum permissible 500 kilojoules of energy. This is enough power to hoist a 2,500-kg minivan 20 metres up in the air. The other interesting tidbit to come out of the Austin event is the racetrack is one of two (Sao Paulo being the other) that runs counter-clockwise, which entails switching the entire refuelling system to the opposite side of the car.

The 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas is a tough race because, even in the middle of September, temperatures reach 30C — and this is in the stands. Inside the closed-roof LMP1 car, the cabin heats up to uncomfortably hot temperatures primarily because the temperature at track level was 40C midway through the race. The fact the cabin is blessed with very poor ventilation does not help. Obviously, for the driver, this is a major issue. Stephane Sarrazin, one of the drivers of the No. 8 Toyota Hybrid, says he loses a kilogram an hour during the race, so staying hydrated is key to success.

Team Toyota does a whack of simulations before arriving at any track. This was particularly important in arriving at a race setup for the World Endurance Championship — it is the first time the LMP1 cars have competed in Austin. One of the early issues was the tire wear caused by the high lateral loads placed on them when the TS030 was pushed through the long, very fast, corners. During the race, it was less of an issue, as the team managed to stay on schedule. It ended up being a duel between the #2 Audi and the Toyota. The two swapped the lead 14 times over the duration of the race. In the end, the Audi had just too much of a speed advantage for Toyota to overcome. That said, the margin of victory after six hours of hard racing was just 23.61 seconds.

Rule changes are coming to the series next year, so Toyota is already working on the replacement car. The cars will be narrower and lighter by 50 kg. The bigger change is found in the powertrain regulations and the fact the amount of fuel will be limited. This will effectively switch the current performance focus to one where fuel economy becomes the more important aspect (the FIA is adamant the changes will not affect the competitiveness of the racing). The aim is to reduce fuel consumption of the 2014 cars by up to 30% when compared to the current cars — a drop from 6.13-litres of fuel per lap of LeMans to 4.8L or less. This will ultimately see the electric side becomes more important — the car will be able to harvest a monster eight megajoules and use it to power the hybrid. Among other things, the rule changes are designed to force the race teams to develop technology that’s relevant to road-going cars. Mind you, at this juncture the TS030’s hybrid powertrain costs three times that of the unit found in the Prius.